My Birthday : Monkey Forest

Monday, April 27, 2015Charlotte in England

Visit to Monkey Forest

I'm literally writing this whilst lying on a blanket in the garden on a beautiful sunny day here in Britain after a wonderful Birthday weekend. I don't get too excited about birthdays anymore but I do get excited about visiting new places and seeing new things and that's exactly what I did for my Birthday!
I still get ID'd every.single.time I go to the supermarket to buy alcohol so I'm not feeling upset about getting older, just yet!Another friend has a birthday around the same time as me so we're all having a gathering Bank Holiday (yay, another one!) at the start of May for a belated Birthday drink fest. I can't stand working on my Birthday so I booked a long weekend off. We decided to take a trip to Trentham Estate in Staffordshire. They have some beautiful award winning gardens, set in "725 acres, it is the last remnants of one of England’s great garden estates", there's an Aerial Extreme (high ropes adventure) and tranquil scenery but I initially went for... Monkey Forest!They have 140 barbary Macaques cheeky monkeys, all different ages and sizes.
"The monkeys live in total freedom which allows visitors to get an in depth insight into the lives of these fascinating monkeys. The woodland trail allows you to walk amongst the monkeys and immerse yourself in their everyday antics. See them as they swing from the trees, lounge on the grass and even walk the path straight past you!" (Quoted text taken from their site)And guys... this is totally true. I was blown away at how close these little guys were. It was amazing. We got to see them chilling, grooming, sleeping, playing, swinging from tree to tree, feeding, talking to each other and even fighting at one point. It was truly magical and I was shocked how brilliant it was. This was totally the opposite of a zoo. The monkeys were completely at ease, it was beautiful to see them acting so naturally. They weren't depressed sitting in the corner of a cage, they were lively.

If you're local or just love monkeys this is a MUST DO! The staff were absolutely brilliant and very knowledgeable. They have a Guide Presentation every hour where they feed the monkeys and give a talk. As you can see from my photographs we had the opportunity to get really close to the monkeys. Trentham Estate also have a shopping village and beautiful gardens. Want to find out more? See my other blog post about Trentham Gardens & Estate hereWhere is it?Monkey Forest, Trentham Estate, Stone Road, Trentham, Staffordshire, ST4 8AY. View in Maps.Where can I find out more?Visit the Monkey Forest website here, they are on Twitter and Facebook too!